To Get Over His Internet Addiction, This Teenager Went to the Extreme

And we do mean extreme.

A 19-year-old boy from Nantong, Jiangsu China is in intensive care after cutting off his own hand in order to cure himself of his Internet addiction.

Before severing his hand and wrist with a kitchen knife, the teen, known by his last name, Wang, left a note for his mother. "I have gone to hospital for a while. Don't worry. I will definitely come back this evening."

After self-amputating, he hailed a taxi to take him to the hospital.

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"We cannot accept what has happened. It was completely out of the blue. He was a smart boy," his mother told The Telegraph.

Fortunately, his doctors have been able to reattach his hand but he may never regain mobility.

In China, where an estimated 24 million children are "web junkies," Internet addiction is considered a clinical disorder, that's among the top dangers to young people. As such, more than 250 military-style boot camps have been created to help combat the issue, according to USA Today.

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Additionally in 2013, Shanghai approved new laws that ask parents to take action to "prevent and stop minors smoking, drinking alcohol, roaming the streets, or being overindulgent with online and electronic games."

Tao Ran, an army psychologist who runs an Internet rehab center in Beijing said while the legislation is a start, it's not enough. He suggests that even more radical steps be taken. "Children under the age of seven should be kept away from the Internet and online games. Teens under 18 should be forbidden from stepping inside Internet cafés," he told the Telegraph.

How much screen time a child, or even a teen, should have is a hotly contested issue among parents. And while it doesn't seem like the US has any plans to join Shanghai, or recently Taiwan, to regulate Internet use, some parents who struggle with prying iPads away from their kids might welcome a little intervention.

According to a study by the University of California, Los Angeles, too much time online time could inhibit a child's ability to recognize emotions, and other studies have revealed that excessive media use can lead to attention issues, behavioral problems, learning difficulties, and obesity. Additionally, a new study published this week by BMJ Open confirms what we've already suspected—that teens who spend more than two hours on the Internet after school tend to have trouble sleeping at night.

Of course we're not certain if any of these side effects of too much computer usage led Wang to seek out drastic measures to cure his Internet addiction, but we're hoping that he receives proper treatment so that he doesn't harm himself again.